A/N - So, in a way this is a new story but I'm connecting it to my previous one, The Gala. A summary for those who don't want to read it:

Red and Liz get a lead that could take them to the Cabal, the man who handles their finances, and his ledger. He then sends her to a gala to get the ledger, but there she finds Ressler, who had found the same lead by Jacob, and they were working together. In the end, she leaves the book with Ressler and escapes.

Ressler entered the post office early in the morning still feeling a bit sleepy. He smelled coffee from the break room and felt glad for his team. They had forced him to go home last night after he spent the whole day without eating. He went home, eat and old frozen meal he had forgotten in his fridge, and slept for a bit, but truly, he didn't learn. He left home early without having any breakfast. He just couldn't eat while this was still going. It was a waste of time.

He turned his attention to the room working at full speed. He was greeted by an excited Aram.

"Hey boss" he called him boss, and Ressler felt weird. He was about to order Aram never to do that again when Agent Navabi greeted him with more important news.

"we found something, on the ledger" Samar said, and the feeling of sleep disappeared from his body. The pain in the gut that came every time he remembered how they got to that ledger in the first place replaced it. The party, the man with the briefcase cuffed to his wrist, Liz in a beautiful red dress. He was never able to explain what he was doing there and how he got to the ledger, but something told him that the fact that his partners were ignoring the details was because they knew what he did, and were compiling with him.

"What?" He threw his briefcase on his desk and moved to see what they had. A photo of an old blonde man came on the screen.

"This is Charles McGann. He's accused of theft, money laundering and trafficking, and his name is on the ledger. Several times." Aram seemed concerned. "He's one of the greatest investors of the Cabal."

"Great. Let's see him." He said, moving towards the elevator.

"There's a problem there, Ressler" Samar said. "There's absolutely no proof against him. All these accusations are alleged. His record is spotless."

Ressler let go a disappointed grunt. "I hate these ones. They are criminals, we know that, and we can't do anything without crashing against a wall of crooked lawyers and technicality."

"And there's more" Aram added. "He's also a known associate of Raymond Reddington".

Of course he is. That's why he has no record. It was Reddington's work. He started to think of his old nemesis and remember how hard it was to hunt Reddington, and how much he hated him for always being a step ahead, just like he was now, with Liz. Elizabeth. He remembered her, and a terrible feeling of fear and concern invaded Ressler and even made him feel sick. He stood up on a jump. "But if he's with the Cabal, he might use his connection to Reddington to lure them. He may lead them into a trap." His voice was louder than usual, and he did not seem to have noticed it. The look of concern on Aram and Samar's face indicated that they thought exactly the same thing. "Aram, what can we do?"

Aram wasn't still completely sure of how far Ressler would go to save Liz. He had doubts whether his new boss really believed her, or if he had the sole intention to arrest her and make his career fly. This whole ledger idea made his trust in Ressler come back a bit, but he was still cautious.

"Nothing, really. Unless…" He had an idea, but he knew they wouldn't like it. "unless we do it undercover."

"undercover?" Samar repeated, signs of thinking on her beautiful face. After a few seconds, the woman showed with her features that she understood him. They communicated beautifully, thought Aram.

"If we go undercover, we might find a breach that would allow us to bring McGann in. I can go in as an assassin, gain his trust, become part of his party, and then dig around."

"No" said Ressler, firmly. "I'll go".

"Ressler, they need you here. Besides…" she said, and looked at him from head to toe. That man oozed law enforcement. He would blow his cover in seconds.

"Besides what? I'll go, that's an order." And he turned to go to his office, trying to make his decision final. It wasn't final for the woman, who pursued him.

"Samar, I said it. I'm going, and that's it."

"Ressler, you won't last 10 seconds in there."

"How can you know that?"

"You are not a criminal. You cannot be made to look like a criminal. You don't know how to be that, not even as a cover."

"And you know?" he said, and immediately remembered that she had killed a man for Mossad. She knew, and yes, she would be a better choice for that; But he could not, would not be just sitting there waiting for news. They could have already been looking for McGann's help. He wished he had a way to contact Liz and warn her.

"I can't, Samar." He revealed. "I have to know."

Samar understood, and closed the door of his office behind her. "You saw her, didn't you? At that gala, she was there. What happened there, Ress?"

He wanted to tell her, but knew he couldn't. His collaborating with Phelps, helping Liz there, it was all so not him. He was already ruining his career; he could not bring Samar and Aram with him.

"You don't want to know" he let go, because he knew that somehow that was no lying to her. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled a bottle of whisky from there. Samar looked shocked.

"It's 7 in the morning, Ressler!"

"Look I haven't had breakfast, and you come and tell me that they might be in danger, and there's nothing we can do. Just let me, will ya?"

"No." she said, and grabbed the bottle from him as he was opening the lid. "I'll get you a coffee. You figure out how you are going to build a convincing cover."

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Liz was pacing back and forth in that foreign room, extremely mad at Red. The strange man she now had to trust was trying to calm her down, his efforts to absolutely no use. She wanted him to go before she couldn't control her anger anymore.

"Look, honey, it will all be okay. You can trust me, honestly. There's nothing I wouldn't do for Reddington, that man saved me numerous times. I love him" he had a faint of scorn in his voice that made Liz's stomach revolve. How could Red trust this guy, how could he have left her?

"He left me here." She said, still walking about the room, nervous. "and did he say why? What's going on?"

"Reddington didn't want to leave you, sweetheart. But he had problems to solve. He'll be back before you know it."

She finally sat on the bed in the center of the room, crossed her arms and legs as if she wanted to shield herself from that situation.

"Meanwhile, you will be safe with me. We'll create a new identity for you, just to be safe, my men will never know who you really are and why you're here."

"Why? You don't trust them?"

"Sweetie, I don't trust anyone. Now, what do you think of Alice Katrall? You'll be the protégé of a friend, and came here to learn some things to help you with your law degree."

"Whatever", she said, and lay down on the bed, hands still crossed over her chest. The man bowed, and made his way towards the door.

"Make yourself comfortable, take a shower, relax. You won't be doing much. Consider this some vacation from your run. The police will never find you here."

She thought of her run, and her old partners at the bureau, and somehow missed them. But he was right, she would stop for a while.

"We have a kitchen, but you have drinks and snacks in the mini fridge over there. help yourself, and if you need anything, just tell Lavender, your maid. She'll be here twice a day to clean and check on you."

"I won't be leaving this room, then?" she said, fearing that her vacation just turned into a prison.

"Absolutely, that's not what I meant. You're free to roam the house as much as you can. Wouldn't recommend leaving to the streets, though. But I'm sure you know why. Just make sure to be discreet."

"What if your men start asking questions?"

"They won't. But if they do..."

"I'll sneeze." she completed, and the man looked puzzled. She waved away the advice her ex-husband gave her while she was keeping him cuffed to a chair in their house. "Forget it. You say they won't, they won't."

The man was crossing the threshold when she raised her head, and asked what had been on her head from the start.

"What's your name?"

He turned to look at her with a smile on his face, and for a moment, he looked trustworthy. "Charles McGann, at your service."

"Ok, Mr. McGann. You can call me Elizabeth. Or Alice, right? But if you ever call me sweetie, or honey or any other pet name again, I swear I'll kill you in your sleep."

The man only chuckled as he turned away, closing the door behind him.